Sophomore goaltender Mark Dekanich made 24 saves, giving him 50 on the weekend, and Colgate completed a weekend sweep with a 6-2 victory at Yale on Saturday.
Colgate took the lead 2:30 into the opening period, and never looked back. Senior captain Jon Smyth shot on goal, and the rebound came back to junior Mike Campaner in the left faceoff circle. He played it to sophomore Tyler Burton, who was waiting on the doorstep, and Burton beat Yale netminder Matt Modelski glove-side for his fifth goal of the season.
Colgate’s black line registered its first goal of the season with just over five minutes left in the first period. Junior Liam Huculak got the puck from senior Zac Tataryn and skated it into the zone along the far boards. He dropped it off for sophomore Ben Camper just over the blue line, and Camper scored top-shelf on Modelski from the top of the left faceoff circle.
The Raiders made it 3-0 with their fifth power-play goal of the weekend with 1:37 remaining. Freshman Jason Fredricks shot from the left side of the net, and the puck rebounded to senior Ryan Smyth. Smyth got a stick on it in front of Modelski, and senior Kyle Wilson picked it up and beat the Yale netminder to his left.
It marked Wilson’s eighth goal of the year, and his fifth power-play goal, and it extended his career-long point streak to nine games.
Ryan Smyth got his first goal of the season 3:35 into the second period to give Colgate a 4-0 advantage. The Raiders crashed the net on a power-play opportunity, the puck squirted loose, and Smyth backhanded it into the net. Campaner and junior Marc Fulton were credited with assists on the play.
Four Raider goals were enough for Modelski, who was replaced by Alec Richards following a Yale timeout.
The Bulldogs halted Dekanich’s streak of consecutive shutout minutes at a career-best 129:39 with just under six minutes left in the second period. David Inman passed to Zachary Mayer, who was down low to the right of the Colgate goal. He passed the puck cross-ice to Nat Jackson, who beat Dekanich top-shelf.
Freshman Nick St. Pierre became the first Raider rookie this season to get his first collegiate goal with 2:01 left in the second period. Junior Alex Greig found sophomore Jesse Winchester in the high slot in front of Dekanich. Winchester sailed a long pass through the neutral zone which fond St. Pierre streaking out of the penalty box. St. Pierre took on Richards one-on-one and beat the Bulldogs’ goalie low on the right side.
Yale’s second goal came 6:28 into the third period. Will Engasser won the faceoff back to Matt Nelson. He passed the puck up to Shawn Mole, who was waiting in the middle of the blue line, and Mole ripped a slap shot past Dekanich.
David Sloane became the second Raider rookie to notch his first career goal 14:31 into the third. Jon Smyth got the puck from Burton to the right of Richards, and he sailed a cross-ice pass to Sloane. Sloane’s slapshot from the left faceoff circle beat Richards stick-side.
